Section 15-21-132. Assessment and collection of additional sums; reporting; certification of victim assistance programs

   (a) The sums provided for in Code Section 15-21-131 shall be assessed and collected by the court officer charged with the duty of collecting moneys arising from fines and shall be paid monthly:

   (1) If the county where the fine was imposed operates or participates in any victim assistance program certified by the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, to the governing authority of the county for disbursement to those victim assistance programs; or

   (2) If the county where the fine was imposed does not operate or participate in any victim assistance program certified by the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, to the district attorney of the judicial circuit in which the county is located for the purpose of defraying the costs of victim assistance activities carried out by the district attorney's office. Such funds shall be paid over in the same manner as other county funds paid for operations of the district attorney's office and shall be in addition to rather than in lieu of any other such funds.

All such funds shall be paid to the recipients by the last day of the month in which the funds are received; provided, however, that the governing authority of the county shall be authorized to hold as reserve funds an amount not to exceed 5 percent of the funds received by the governing authority in the preceding calendar year.

(b) The court officer charged with the duty of collecting moneys arising from fines as provided for in Code Section 15-21-131 shall receive and distribute the funds collected to the county governing authority or district attorney, as appropriate, and shall submit a monthly report of the collection and distribution of such funds to the Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority, and the Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority shall submit a financial report to the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council each month stating the amount collected and the amount disbursed no later than the last day of the month following the month in which the funds were collected.

(c) The county governing authority receiving funds shall submit a financial report to the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council semiannually stating the recipients that directly received funds during such reporting period no later than the last day of the month following the reporting period in which the funds were collected in order to allow coordination of local, state, and federal funding sources for similar services. The Criminal Justice Coordinating Council shall report annually to the General Assembly the county governing authorities that failed to submit semiannual reports during the previous calendar year.

(d) All recipients of funds pursuant to this Code section, except county governing authorities, shall submit an annual report to the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council. Such report shall include, but not be limited to, the total amount of funds received pursuant to this Code section, the purposes for which the funds were expended, and the total number of victims served in each county for which the funds were received. A copy of each recipient's annual report shall also be submitted to each county governing authority from which funds were received pursuant to this Code section.

(e) The Criminal Justice Coordinating Council shall promulgate rules governing the certification of victim assistance programs. The rules shall provide for the certification of programs which are designed to provide substantial assistance to victims of crime in understanding and dealing with the criminal justice system as it relates to the crimes committed against them. It is the intention of the General Assembly that certification shall be liberally granted so as to encourage local innovations in the development of victim assistance programs.

(f) The Criminal Justice Coordinating Council shall promulgate rules governing the revocation of certification of victim assistance programs. Such rules shall provide for the decertification of programs previously certified by the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council that are no longer in compliance with the rules promulgated by the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council pursuant to this Code section.

(g) Moneys arising from fines imposed pursuant to Code Section 15-21-131 shall not be paid to any victim assistance program that has not been certified by the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council or to any program that has been decertified by such council.

(h) Each calendar quarter, the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council shall prepare and publish, by document and posting on its website, a report that shall list each court which has not filed the reports required by subsection (b) of this Code section.

Code 1981, § 15-21-132, enacted by Ga. L. 1995, p. 260, § 3; Ga. L. 2000, p. 1359, § 1; Ga. L. 2005, p. ES3, § 7/HB 1EX; Ga. L. 2006, p. 710, § 1/SB 203.